But now, Johnson wants his name and signature to be deleted, calling it a "miscommunication."

"The mayor doesn't have a specific number that he is looking at when it comes to the minimum wage," Johnson's press secretary, Ben Sosenko, told KCRA 3.

Sosenko said the mayor is opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach to minimum wage because what works in San Francisco may not work in Sacramento.

"(Johnson wants) to do it the right way here, which means bringing in all stakeholders -- the business community, labor community, community leaders -- and having a real discussion to see what makes sense for Sacramento," Sosenko said. "So when it comes to a specific number, he wants to wait on that until we get feedback from the community in a real way."

So how did the mayor's signature get on that letter?

"It was a staff miscommunication," Sosenko said. "Someone got ahead of it. Someone got the mayor to sign off on a letter that wasn't something that he has said publicly for many months."

"We have to be very mindful of how it impacts business because we don't want to stymie business," Warren said. "And that's why it's so important that we have business at the table."

That approach makes sense to Milo Elfarh, who runs Nielo Express Towing with his brother. He told KCRA 3 they can't afford any workers at the current minimum wage of $9 an hour.

"You can't afford them," Elfarh said. "Sometimes you get slow. If we're busy all the time, you don't mind. But if you're slow, you can't because it's going to be more money coming from your pockets."

In a statement to KCRA 3, the California Restaurant Association said that after last year's 25 percent increase in the minimum wage, "it only makes sense to fully analyze the resulting economic conditions before layering on additional annual wage increases."

The fight to raise California's minimum wage will take center stage at the State Capitol when Sen. Mark Leno's bill -- SB 3 -- will be the subject of public hearings this spring, even without Johnson's signature.